


Silent Guardian

by aurons_fan



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-03-16 13:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3489368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurons_fan/pseuds/aurons_fan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kairi never had to worry if Riku would be there to watch her back. She just knew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr Prompt, pairing Riku/Kairi, prompt "things you didn’t say at all."
> 
> Jeez. This one was hard as hell to write. But I hope you like it!

When Kairi first met Riku at the tender age of five, all he did was look strangely. Sora, on the other hand, couldn't stop flailing over her, grinning and smiling. As Sora dragged her arm so she could meet the other kids on the island, she turned to look at Riku watching them with an odd expression.

She later learned that Riku was just being Riku. Sora was expressive and loud and would bodly declare that he would come to her aid when the island children played make believe. Riku, on the other hand, would just step between her and whoever was tasked that day to be the monster and strike them down. Sora would wail, complaining that it was _his_ turn to slay the dragon, and Riku would scoff and say something like Sora needed to learn to be quicker. Either way, when these monsters came, Kairi would turn to Riku to defend her, and Riku would already be there. 

Years later, after Kairi watched Sora's gummi ship disappear into the Traverse Town night, all she could think about was how helpless Riku had looked, holding Ansem back for them. Aerith, Yuffie, and Leon tried explaining what had happened to her, how Riku had blindly followed the evil witch Maleficent and attacked Sora and held a puppet named Pinocchio hostage (which she was a little confused about but there were weirder things she'd seen. Like that talking duck). But all she could see every time she closed her eyes was the horror in Riku's as he tried to protect her from a very real, very _dangerous_  monster right in front of her.

She didn't sleep well for weeks.

What felt like eons later, as Sora and Riku stumbled onto the beach after their fight with Xemnas, she hugged Sora tight, but Riku smiled and kept his distance. 

"I think I need to see a doctor first," he said with a small smile, holding onto his side. 

Sora jumped, the thrill of being home quickly replaced by his worry about his friend in pain. He wrapped an arm around Riku's waist and hefted him up. "Alright, here we go," he said.

Kairi stepped up to grab Riku's other side, but he shook his head. "I'll be okay," he said.

She walked alongside them as Riku slowly limped down the beach, but any time she offered to help him, Riku inched away, even if it caused him to wince. She frowned but didn't comment.

It wasn't like she had a lot of chances to hang out with just Riku or Sora once they got back. Between her, Sora, and Riku's parents all freaking out over their return, it was a little difficult to have _any_ alone time. Sora's mom loved retelling the story of how Sora was the brave hero who had saved Kairi, which was always a little uncomfortable. But it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as watching Riku squirm when Sora mentioned how much Riku had done to help them.

Riku, Kairi noticed, always slipped away from these gatherings almost as soon as he'd arrived.

One evening, at a town barbecue, Sora ran up to her as she talked to Selphie. 

"Hey Kairi!" He grinned and hugged her tightly. Kairi tried to ignore the adoring look that Selphie gave them. "Have you seen Riku?"

That got her attention. "No?" She glanced around. "Is he not here?"

Sora scowled. "He promised he was coming to this one, but..." He crossed his arms, staring past her. "I bet he's on the island. Again."

"Sora!" They both turned as Sora's mom approached and Sora frowned. Kairi resisted giggling. It was still really weird seeing Sora visibly annoyed after so many years of seeing nothing but bright smiles on his face. But this Sora was nothing like the one from when they were 14 and their biggest concern was the next race on the beach.

"I'll go to the island," Kairi said softly, as Sora's mom began to talk. "I don't think I can stand this party much longer anyway."

Sora gave her a sad little smile and nodded. "Lemme know if you need me okay?" 

Kairi slipped away, grabbing one of the small boats and heading over to the island. And as she approached, she smiled despite the situation. Even if he'd changed completely, at least it was still guaranteed that Riku would always be on the smallest island, over looking the ocean while seated atop the paopu tree. 

Kairi was never the sneakiest of the three (though the prize of the most obvious always went to Sora), so it was no surprise to her when Riku turned slightly as she walked across the platform. 

"What are you doing here?" he said, turning back to the ocean. "I thought there was a bonfire tonight."

"There is," she said, leaning against the tree. "But you weren't there."

They stood in silence for a while, and Riku lowered his head. "I..." He paused, frowned, and sighed. "I'm... really glad you're safe."

She blinked. "I'm glad you're safe too. That looked like a nasty hit Xemnas gave you-"

"I wasn't-" he started before closing his eyes. "That wasn't what I was talking about."

After a long moment, Kairi sighed. If she closed her eyes, she'd see Riku standing in front of Ansem (Xehanort's Heartless?) _,_ yelling at them to run. With a huff, Kairi climbed onto the trunk and sat next to Riku, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tugged him close.

"Ow," he mumbled but let himself be pulled anyway.

"We were kids," she said, and frowned. "We _are_ kids. We do dumb things. It's okay to make mistakes."

"Not 'end the world' kinda dumb," he muttered. 

She resisted the urge the punch his shoulder, only because she could see the bandage poking out from under his shirt. "Either way, I never said thank you for saving me in that castle." She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "I'm sure that makes up for ...everything else."

Riku glanced down at their hands before smiling. "I'm sure it doesn't," he said softly, squeezing her hand back. "But you're welcome."

He turned to stare at the ocean again and she rested her head on his shoulder, their fingers interlaced.   


End file.
